1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to a reproducing apparatus for reproducing a plurality of pieces of information recorded on a recording medium in a predetermined order.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a theater, for example, a sound effect reproducing apparatus is used for reproducing sound effects (such as the sounds of rain or wind, cries of birds, cats or dogs, or horns of automobiles) from a speaker in synchronization with words of actors or scenes of the stage. In such a sound effect reproducing apparatus, various kinds of sound effects are recorded beforehand on a magnetic tape or a read and write type disk at predetermined intervals. An operator of the apparatus determines the timing when the subsequent sound effect is to be reproduced, while watching advancement of the play on the stage. That is, the sound effect reproducing apparatus reads out the subsequent sound effect from the recording medium and reproduces it when an operation signal is input by the operator indicating the timing for reproduction.
Additionally, in a lecture meeting, for example, a lecturer may give a lecture using images. In this case, various kinds of images are recorded beforehand on a recording medium of an image reproducing apparatus for displaying the images on a screen. When the lecturer operates a remote controller, the image reproducing apparatus displays a desired image by sequentially reproducing the images recorded on the recording medium.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional reproducing apparatuses, in order to reproduce the sound effects or images at a suitable timing, it is necessary to edit the magnetic tape so that a plurality of sound effects or images are recorded thereon in a desired order of reproduction, or to program the order in which the sound effects or images recorded on the disk are reproduced. Additionally, in the conventional reproducing apparatuses, an operation is required for setting the subsequent sound effect or image ready to be accessed for reproduction. Hereinafter, the operation for setting the subsequent sound effect or image ready to be accessed for reproduction is referred to as an access operation.
To perform the access operation, the reproducing apparatus is set in a stop mode at a time when the reproduction of the current sound or image is completed. Then, the recording part of the recording medium where the sound or image to be subsequently reproduced is set ready to be accessed for reproduction. When a magnetic tape is used as the recording medium, the magnetic tape is quickly advanced to search for the subsequently recorded part. When a disk is used as the recording medium, a head for reading information is moved in a tracking direction with the disk being rotated, so that the head is positioned opposite a track which has been programmed to be subsequently reproduced.
When the access operation has been performed in the above-mentioned manner, the operator performs an operation for setting the apparatus in a temporary stop mode or a pause mode. Then, the operator waits for the timing at which the subsequent sound effect or image is to be reproduced.
In this way, operations are relatively complex and troublesome in the conventional reproducing apparatuses. For this reason, an inexperienced operator tends to perform an erroneous operation. For example, the operator may forget to switch the operation mode of the apparatus to the pause mode when the access operation is completed. In this case, the sound effect or image is reproduced immediately after the access operation is finished.